All the news you need to stay informed about what’s currently driving the market – courtesy of Raffa Wealth Management, LLC.
Global stock markets rose over the week on a positive reception of the ECB’s new stimulus measures. The S&P 500 rose 1.6% and the Dow gained 0.9% over the week. Internationally, the Stoxx Europe 600 index hit a 7 year high and was up 5.1% for the week, while Japan gained 3.8%. The Euro has fallen 7.4% against the dollar since the beginning of the year to reach its lowest point in 11 years. The yield on the 10 year Treasury was flat over the week ending at 1.81%. Oil sank still further finishing the week at $45.59 a barrel. Article
China’s growth slowed to 7.4% for 2014, its weakest pace in over 25 years. Article
Canada’s central bank surprised markets by cutting its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.75% in response to the oil price drop and its potential effect on the country’s economy. It’s the first rate cut since the recession for the country.
The ECB elected to launch a $1.16 trillion bond buying plan to help stimulate growth in the euro zone. The bank will purchase $60 billion euro in assets a month starting in March and they will last through September 2016. They signaled they could go longer if they are not near their inflation target of 2%. Article
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley posted results that disappointed resulting in the 6 largest US banks issuing disappointing earnings reports. More regional lenders SunTrust and PNC, however both posted results that beat analysts’ estimates.
IBM, Amex, UPS, State Street and Bank of NY Mellon missed estimated, while Netflix, Starbucks and GE posted positive earnings reports.
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IBM, Amex, UPS, State Street and Bank of NY Mellon missed estimated, while Netflix, Starbucks and GE posted positive earnings reports.